Human to the Max
by Bumpkin
Summary: When Max healed her Liz got powers, now its Kyle's time.... post series end fic
1. Default Chapter

AN: This idea came to me some time ago and I am wondering if anyone is interested in me finishing it. Let me know(  
  
  
  
Human to the Max  
  
Kyle and Maria were sitting in the local coffee shop. They were on the outskirts of some little town in the middle of Colorado, which only served to make the loneliness they felt more acute. They were the only two 'normals' in a group comprised of extra-ordinary people. Although Kyle had a theory that his state was going to undergo some changes soon.  
  
The air outside the huge picture window that overlooked the massive snow capped peaks was chilly for early September according to the locals. Frankly cold to the two sitting together in a companionable silence, they were used to the much warmer climes of New Mexico.  
  
It was of course Maria who broke the silence; she never could abide being quiet for too long. "Kyle," She asked softly. "Do you ever feel like we are ever going to get anywhere? I mean-Do you think that we will ever be able to settle somewhere?" The longing in her musical voice was clearly apparent to her longtime friend, and now according to Isabel's latest dream- walk, her stepbrother of four months.  
  
Kyle looked up at her and shrugged. He had no answer for her. He wished that he could tell her that everything would be fine, that things would settle down and so could they, but he couldn't.  
  
The revelation that her mother and his father had tied the knot soon after they left was what in fact had prompted the little tête-à-tête between the two in the tiny coffee shop. They had asked the others to allow them some time alone together to discuss how they now felt towards each other, now that they were family.  
  
One thing that they had agreed on was that they both wished with all their hearts that they could have been there for them. Maria knew that she would have been her mother's maid of honor and Kyle probably would have been his father's best man. Maria had longed for her mother's presence at her own wedding to Michael on August 1st.  
  
Her hand slid down under the table and splayed protectively over the small bulge that was just beginning to push out her tummy. She desperately wanted to talk to her mother and tell her that she was going to be a grandmother, but thanks to the taps still being on the phone lines of all their parents, it was impossible.  
  
Kyle was fighting his own inner demons, he had used more brains than anyone ever gave him credit for and figured out the time frame that had passed between Max healing Liz and her manifesting her powers. He had then applied the same math from when he had been healed from near death by Max.  
  
By his calculations it had been roughly sixteen months after Liz had been healed from her encounter with a bullet that her powers had made an appearance and now it was roughly sixteen months since he had had his own close encounter with some lead. His own version of powers should start manifesting any day now.  
  
They were both pulled out of their own thoughts by the merry beep beeping of the old VW van that Jesse had given them as their getaway vehicle. Looking out the window to the parking lot they saw their friends hanging out of windows and waving. Automatically the both smiled and waved back, but neither of their hearts was in it.  
  
Maria motioned for Kyle to grab the bill as she picked up the congratulations card that they had bought for their parents in the small gift shop beside the coffee shop. Kyle fished in his jeans pocket for some bills and dropped them on the table and followed his new sister out into the cold air of the mountains.  
  
~*~ tbc. 


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Ok, here is part two, hope you like it so far. (  
  
Maria held out the sealed and addressed card to Liz for her to mail when the group were on their way to leave town as she got into the van. Liz was still a stickler for details, which Maria was thankful for. It was a very good thing one of them was good with the details, because Maria thought to herself, she would still loose her head if it weren't somehow permanently attached. Maria's lips curled in a small smile as she settled down in the bench seat that she shared with her husband of one month. He saw it and pulled her tight to his side, kissing the top of her blond head. Her head tilted back for a real kiss on the lips and he happily obliged.  
  
Michael knew that something was on Maria's mind, something other than her mother and Jim Valenti getting married but she had not shared as of yet and he was not going to push. Not yet anyway. Whatever it was, she would tell him sooner or later, he just was hoping for sooner. He was not really noted for being the most patient of men, human or otherwise.  
  
Kyle climbed into the van through the side door behind Maria and he kept going to the last bench. Isabel was already seated on the far side so it was just a case of his sitting down and fastening his seat belt.  
  
Max called out to everyone from the driver's seat, "Everybody set? Are we ready to head out?" A chorus of 'o.k.s and yeah's' answered him.  
  
"Where we headed Max?" Kyle asked.  
  
"Well I am hoping that we can manage to make it into Canada, I don't think that the FBI will have the nerve to follow us there. We might even be able to settle down and have real lives." Max was optimistic; after all they had managed to hang around the edges of their home state for over a month without the FBI even coming close. All they had to do was keep their guard up and not get sloppy.  
  
"Can we just decide on a destination now, just like this?" Isabel asked right before Kyle broke in with his own question.  
  
"Can we swing by New Jersey? I have something that I need to look up in their PEAR center. And at the Genomics Institute, its north like Canada, or did we have a special destination in Canada in mind?"  
  
Maria twisted around in her seat to look at her stepbrother. "What on earth is a PEAR center? And why do you want to go there? And I don't even know if I want to know what genomics is-sounds like some form of strange dwarfism cause, earth little people."  
  
Kyle could not help it, he barked out a short loud laugh before he could suppress it. Maria could come up with some of the strangest things. In answer he said, "PEAR is the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, and I want to go to their center because of what they are studying there. They are running experiments on how the brain works with certain devices, interaction between man and machine type of stuff. But the other thing that they have a lot of information on is why we humans tend to do things due to religion and other factors. Genomics is something that Liz could probably tell you more about, I was just starting to look into it before we left."  
  
Maria swiveled around to face front again, her eyes wide as well as questioning even though she had voiced that she didn't want to know. Liz caught her friend's gaze with wide eyes of her own, who knew that Kyle was so methodical?  
  
Michael piped up before Liz had a chance to say anything in response to Maria's questioning gaze.  
  
"Genomics is the study of microbiology, or molecular biology. It's also the study of evolution; how we adapt to new influences in our lives physically and mentally."  
  
Five pairs of eyes full of surprise fixed on a suddenly embarrassed Michael. "What? I looked into it when Nasedo told me that we were not like him, that our powers were mostly engineered to be humanity in a few thousand years."  
  
Understanding dawned in Liz's eyes, she turned a very respectful gaze on both Michael and Kyle. They were not as interested in science as she was and they had made one singularly huge stride in figuring out some very basic precepts in how the aliens had come to be and how they affected as well as were affected by the world.  
  
Isabel's question seemed to have been lost in the hullabaloo that Kyle's request had stirred up. Even by Isabel herself, but Max brought her attention and everyone else's back to it.  
  
"Well I was doing some research in the local library here while you guys were all doing some shopping and Kyle and Maria were in the coffee shop. Seems that if we can get across the border that Canada will more than likely not bother with shipping us back and the US Federal government is not as likely to pursue into our upper neighbors territory."  
  
Max paused for a moment and then locked his eyes with those of his sister's, before he spoke again.  
  
"Also I found out that Jesse would be able to practice law there without having to take any special tests, he would just be able to join a firm or set up practice. And I must say that I think that we will go via New Jersey, that Institute sounds absolutely fascinating."  
  
Isabel's face betrayed her thankfulness. She appeared more animated than she had in any time during the last four months since they had left. She seemed to take the new hope that Max had given her and grabbed it with both hands. She turned into a dynamo, anxious to get on with life.  
  
"Well?" She asked the van in general, "Are we ready to go or what? Sooner moving, sooner we reach our destination."  
  
A cheer resounded in the cramped confines of the vehicle as Max revved the engine and they were off-to research and to a new home.  
  
~*~ tbc.. 


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Yeah I know it's been a dog's age since I updated this one.. and frankly I don't know if anyone is interested at all in my continuing - but I had this chapter done for the most part and it didn't take me long to finish it so I did and now posting it. Let me know if you want to see more - or if you want to adopt it.

Human to the Max:3  


* * *

  
They had been driving for about a week when a shift came up with only Isabel and Max awake. They were just approaching the outskirts of Princeton, New Jersey and Max was relying on Isabel to navigate for him to, and through the maze that was the Princeton University campus.

"Turn here." Isabel said softly pointing to the left. Max turned the van in the direction that his sister had pointed, his mind not really focused on his driving. It was more occupied with what they might be able to find at the university. He was incredibly curious about what they could possibly figure out about their powers and why they had them. Kyle and Michael had planted some new information in his mind and as usual it had taken him off on some rather fantastic tangents. His son turning out to be fully human when both parents were hybrids made him wonder just how much of their DNA was ruled by the alien genetics? Would having a child with a fully human partner make a difference in the powers inheritance issue? There were so many possibilities, so many 'what ifs?', he couldn't stay focused for long.

Maybe, he thought to himself, Iz has a few ideas of her own. He paused in his thinking on a new note, 'Funny how she and I have never really talked about how we are different, from each other and humanity in general, except in the way that we didn't want to be.'

"Hey Iz, you think that you can navigate and talk about something at the same time?" Max asked his sister quietly without thinking about how what he asked might sound.

Isabel threw him a dirty look, one that said 'what did he think? That she had a hard time walking and chewing gum?'

Guessing what she was thinking, Max hurried to clarify. "I meant talking about something that would have you thinking deeply. I wanted to ask you how you feel about our powers and what you think of them."

Isabel's face took on an expression of distance as she directed her attention inwards for a moment, it cleared into a look of enlightenment as she realized the same thing that Max had a few minutes earlier. That they had never really talked about their differences, at least not to each other. They had both had Liz and Alex and then Jesse to talk to. Max had even had a whole summer when he and Maria had become really good friends and talked about everything that they felt or thought about. Each other they had taken for granted, Michael too.

"Well--," Isabel began slowly, obviously trying to think of what was most important to her. "Honestly Max, I have been trying not to think of our powers for so long that I have no real idea of what I think of them. For the longest time all I wanted was for them to go away. And now, well now I find that I just want for them to not interfere with any of the 'human' aspects of my life, the main one being 'will I be able to have children with a human male?' All the other stuff—well, I guess that I think now that I would hate to be without them since I have always had them at my disposal but I wouldn't care to really push to develop them or anything."

"But when you think of what you want for the rest of your life? Like do you wonder if your children will have the gifts that we have? Or if they do have them, will they be the same or will they be different? Is the alien gene a dominant or a recessive?" Max was mostly just talking aloud, letting his inner questions be voiced.

Isabel poked him, he glanced at his sister with an annoyed expression on his face, "What?"

"What on earth has brought all this on? I know that you were not this interested in kids, or even genetics before. Does this have anything to do with your son?"

Max looked sheepish, "Not exactly," he replied. "I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that he's gone. Honestly, I think I made the only call I could have at the time since some quirk of genetics made him fully human even with two hybrid alien\humans as his parents. No, he's safely adopted now to a regular family where the weirdness of our lives won't interfere. It's got more to do with my marriage to Liz and the future possibility of *us* having a family of our own. I just never really thought about these things before, like I guess you had to after your marriage to Jesse, until Kyle and Michael brought our attention to it like they did."

"Hunh." Isobel said as she got a thoughtful look on her face. "You know, I never really did think of kids with Jesse – other than if I wanted them or not I mean. I never really gave a thought to how they might be different due to our heritage." She looked over at her brother, a hopeless look on her face replacing the thoughtful one. "I guess I was just so determined that I was going to have a storybook marriage I willfully blinded myself to any potential problems that could happen – like if I didn't acknowledge them then they wouldn't happen."

Max had known exactly what his sister had been doing after her marriage to Jesse, and while he couldn't condone it with all the troubles it had ended up causing in the long run, he could certainly understand it. Reaching out with the hand that he didn't need for driving, Max caught and held onto Isobel's hand nearest to him. Giving it a squeeze for comfort purposes. Isobel gave him a bit of a wobbly smile as thanks in return.

In accord the siblings shelved the discussion. It was something they could discuss later as a group if need be – specially in light of their destination. Which at long last was visible as Isobel hadn't lost track of navigating the entire time they had been talking - the PEARs Center in the Engineering Quad – they were here. Max put the van in park. The two settled in to nap until morning, they would wake and explore with the rest then.

x-X-x tbc…


End file.
